Last week, we celebrated design excellence in our annual Architecture Week. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of our participants, from Heritage Ball honorees Vicki Match Suna, AIA, the Clinton Climate Initiative, A Program of the William J. Clinton Foundation, the 200 West Street Project team, and Henry N. Cobb, FAIA, to the supporters and attendees. Over 1,100 people joined us to help raise money for the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter and the Center for Architecture Foundation's invaluable programs. Thanks are also due to those that made the free programs at the Center for Architecture a huge success, from the thirteen deans that participated in our Deans' Roundtable to the families that joined us over openhousenewyork weekend for our annual Family Fest. It was a wonderful week of design dialogues and thank you to all who contributed their time, resources, and enthusiasm for a great cause!
Fortunately, Architecture Week doesn't have to end here. Last week, we opened two very special exhibitions: Innovate:Integrate - Building Better Together and MADE IN NEW YORK, and I encourage you to visit them both. Both Innovate:Integrate, which is on view at the Center for Architecture (536 LaGuardia Place, NYC) and will remain on display until January, 2011, and MADE IN NEW YORK, installed in the West 4th St. Subway Station and on display until the end of October, contribute to the discourse on how and why design matters.
First, a bit more about Innovate:Integrate. My presidential theme is "architect as leader." In searching for the right platform for an exhibition on leadership in the industry, my thoughts turned to the building process. I have long been a champion of the strong collaborative relationship between architects and the construction teams that build the projects we design. What better way to celebrate the people who lead that process, than to feature their tools and methodologies? The show explores some of the best of today's innovative design and construction techniques, and the best methods to integrate them into today's - and tomorrow's - building processes. These innovations in construction and design, whether they building facades or new ways of representing buildings models, will help architects reach the environmental and economic goals needed to make a sustainable built environment for the 21st century. Come see the future of energy harvesting facades, daylight optimization, and resource-saving material science. The future, as you'll see at Innovate:Integrate, is not only smart design, it also offers beautiful solutions to some of society's biggest challenges.
Also debuting last week was MADE IN NEW YORK. This is the second time we've put a exhibition of member work in the West 4th Street subway station, and I couldn't be happier with the results. AIA New York Chapter / Center for Architecture collected submissions of recently-designed work from their membership. Of the approximately 4400 AIANY members, two hundred submitted projects, from Pei Cobb Freed's Nascar Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina, to the King Abdullah F.D. Mosque, in Riyahd, Saudi Arabia, by
FXFOWLE. Projects of all scales, located all over the globe, are represented, from Helpern's St Agnes Library on the upper West Side, to the Jinqiao Biyun Hotel in Shanghai by Swanke Hayden Connell Architects. The show demonstrates that, even as building has slowed in the recession, New York architects are making great work - and they are enterprising enough to export it. It's a great way to promote great design, and I'm excited to share the new work that New Yorkers may never otherwise have a chance to see.
Just because Architecture Week programming is over, doesn't mean that things have slowed at the Center for Architecture. We are continuing our Checkerboard Film Series through the end of October, starting exhibition programming for Innovate:Integrate, and architecture critic Paul Goldberger will be speaking in November. Plus, we're rolling out new and improved advocacy program at the city and state levels, pushing our lawmakers to recognize what is best for not only architects, but the whole building industry. So thanks for listening, and stay tuned.
Anthony Schirripa, FAIA, IIDA, is the 2010 president of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, New York, N.Y. Tags: